Illuminate & Decorate: Lighting and Decor

Choosing the Proper Lighting Methods for Your Salon & Spa

As a good rule of thumb, incandescent lighting is your best bet when planning on how to illuminate your salon or spa. Choosing this method gives you a broad range of options such as recessed or track lighting. Incandescent lighting provides a warmer tone that works better when compared to fluorescent lighting, though natural light provides the best color accuracy when it comes to working with your clients.

There are three main issues to consider when using incandescent lighting:

• Increased cost of changing bulbs as it has to be done more frequently when compared to fluorescent lighting
• Incandescent lighting expels more heat than fluorescent lighting
• Accuracy of color perception (as mentioned above, natural light is always best)

If you have an existing salon that's filled to the brim with fluorescent lighting and don't have the budget to completely switch over to incandescent lighting, try replacing the bulbs in stages. First, systematically replace the lights in front (or in any area that has a lot of foot traffic or heavy use) with incandescents or even warm-tone fluorescents. Then you can move slowly towards the back till your entire salon is lit with warm light. It may look a bit strange at first and take some time to fully accomplish, but the benefits greatly outweight the cons.

As far as lighting at eye level, frontal lighting is key. Like a dressing room vanity, frontal lighting provides your client with the look of glowing healthy skin while accentuating any highlights in their hair color. This is easily achieved by using any type of lamp with a warm, translucent shade in conjunction with a low-wattage incandescent bulbs.

Other than painting all your walls a warm color, incandescent lighting is the best way to improve your clients' tones and highlights while in your salon or spa.

Using Effective Wall Decor, Banners and Signage

You're in the business of beauty, and any wall decor or signage you in your salon or spa should employ images of beautiful people. There's the argument of making your space more 'personal' by decorating it with items meaningful to you - art, scenery pictures, paintings - but it shouldn't overshadow the point that should be getting across to your clients: this is, first and foremost, a beauty salon. That's not to say that personal artifacts have no place in your salon or spa -- it's just good practice to keep them to a minimum.

Displaying images of beauty and style does the following for your salon and spa:

• It increases the credibility and enhances the professional look of your salon
• It provides clients with ideas they may not have had before 'shopping' your salon decor
• It reinforces the statement that beauty and style is your business

Get help designing a customized layout for your salon and spa, or go back to read additional salon and spa articles.